Naturalists’ Club
out with an expert who can recognize the song and then show me the bird. When I am alone (socially distanced), I try to take a photograph and then use ibird Professional on my ipad to see photos and songs of similar birds. If you join us on one of our outings later in the year (virus permitting), you will be astounded by the ability of some of our members to identify several birds at once by their songs.
I have been reminded by several people that the hummingbirds will be arriving in the first or second week of May; it is always a bit of a competition to see who will be the first to have a hummingbird visit their feeder. If you would like to participate in tracking the hummingbirds’ return to Quebec, go to: http://pages.videotron.com/turja01/formulaires_colibris/arrive.html (French only). If you would like to participate in the North American site, go to: hummingbirdcentral.com/hummingbird-migration-spring-2020-map. htm. It is time to put up your feeder; the recipe for the nectar is: 1 part of sugar dissolved in 4 parts of boiled water.
In the present season, you could find yourself looking down to avoid the mud rather than up to see the birds, so you may notice the two spring plants that our plant expert finds worthy of mention at this time. The first is the Pokeweed, also known as Cowpoke, or Inkberry, which is supposed to be both edible and toxic, but after reading about it I have no idea why anyone would want to eat any part of such a poisonous plant! The only way to make it edible is by boiling the leaves of very young plants in several changes of water; even so, if you don’t choose the right leaves without stems you are putting yourself at risk. All parts of the raw pokeweed plant, especially the roots, are poisonous to humans, horses, sheep, and pigs. Just 10 of the green immature berries can kill an adult. Poisoning has resulted from drinking pokeberry tea, pokeberry wine and eating pokeberry pancakes. Do the dubious medicinal properties of these concoctions make them worth the risk when other wild edible non-poisonous plants grow in exactly the same habitat? I should note that several research groups are studying the mechanism of action of the toxin to see if it could be used against viruses (no, not that one!).
The other plant now making an appearance on the sides of trails is the familiar Poison Ivy with its attractive little reddish leaflets in groups of three. There is a lot on the bike trail from Lennoxville to North Hatley so be careful if your dog walks through it because it is quite brittle and bits can be carried on fur right into your home. I speculate that some property owners have transplanted it along the sides of trails to keep tourists off their land.
If you are in the woods or on the bike path in the evening, take a flashlight and you might see yellow spotted salamanders as they migrate from the woods to the creeks. Near Brompton Bog on the Route 220 the government has installed underpasses so that salamanders may safely cross the road. In previous years, clubs organized a human ferry service to keep them away from the traffic.
Several members have seen foxes this year, at least two were observed in Lennoxville and one of them was seen with a dead squirrel in daylight close to Robert Peel Street! Foxes can be helpful since they kill many vermin and grubs; unfortunately the local one seems to prefer squirrels. Foxes typically avoid confrontation with any other animals and most cats will chase them away. The only time a fox will attack a cat is if the cat threatens the fox cubs, I have been told that the biggest danger for cats is other cats.
The SFVNC is excited to be organizing a webinar towards the end of April to replace its regular meeting. Bald Eagle Recovery & Plants for Birds: Community Science in Action will be presented by Margaret Fowle of Vermont Audubon. Learn about Vermont’s Bald Eagle recovery efforts and how community scientists are the key to their success. Also discover how you can help birds in your back yards and community spaces using Audubon’s “Plants for Birds” program as a guide. When details of the webinar are available they will be sent to members and published on our Facebook page at “Stfrancisvalleync”.
If you have suggestions or would like to add your observations please send an email to Brian c/o Sfvnc@hotmail. com.